Melanie Lekocevic reports for Capital Region Independent Media that Rep. Marc Molinaro said Aug. 11 that no post offices in the 19th Congressional District that have been targeted for closure in a postal service consolidation plan. Molinaro is against the postal plan, saying, “I am deeply disappointed that the administration at the United States Postal Service is ignorant of and uncaring toward rural and upstate communities and that needs to change.” State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, Democrat, has signed on to a letter with Republican state Sen. Rob Rolison to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, protesting the plan. Assemblyman Chris Tague, a Republican, is against the closing of post offices in theory, but did not address any specifics of the plan. He said, “I have always been against post offices closing.... It’s the one last item of convenience that we have in our small rural areas. It’s our last small-town local place where folks always go. Besides that, working in the postal service offers good-paying jobs.” Read more about this story at TheUpstater.com.

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Liz Montgomery reports in Porcupine Soup that Greene County legislators found out Aug. 14 that creating a shovel-ready industrial park along State Route 23 in Cairo is going to cost more than they first thought. In March they voted $875,000 of taxpayer money for the project, but on Aug. 14 the Economic Development and Tourism committee voted to give more, not to exceed $1,150,000. The full legislature still also needs to vote for the increased funding. Greene County, the Greene County Industrial Development Agency, and the Town of Cairo hope to attract manufacturing and distribution companies to the 120-acre site opposite McDonalds on Rt. 23. But they need to extend town water and sewer lines about 1,000 feet before any companies can relocate there. Mahwah Partners, LLC, a company of Dr. James Schneider, is getting the gift of the infrastructure extension, and Schneider claims the site already has interest from a few companies. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Kate Lisa reports for New York State of Politics that the big agricultural battle in Albany is about bees and seeds. Legislators have passed the the Birds and Bees Protection Act, but some farmers don't want Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign it into law. The legislation would mostly stop the use of corn, wheat, soy and other seeds pretreated with neonicotinoid pesticides that endanger bees and other pollinators needed to grow plants. While saving bees would help agricultural interests, Jeff Williams, NY Farm Bureau's director of public policy, said of the legislation, "It's another attempt to whittle away at the pest protections that farmers have every season." But those in favor of the bill say Neonics are pushing 200 endangered species toward extinction. That's about 11 percent of the endangered species list, according to a May assessment by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dan Raichel, acting director of the Pollinator Initiative for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, "Neonics are neurotoxic pesticides known for driving mass loss of bees and other pollinators in New York and across the globe.... But we now know that their ecologically destructive impacts are likely worse than any class of pesticides since DDT." Hochul has not said yet whether she will sign the measure, but last year she vetoed legislation that would have allowed municipalities to regulate the use of pesticides on local wetlands. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Mid-Hudson News reports that on Aug. 15 the Ulster County Legislature approved County Executive Jen Metzger’s proposed Housing Action Fund and used $15 million from the county’s $100 million budget surplus to seed the fund. The measure will support equitable and sustainable community development through the construction, development, revitalization, and preservation of affordable, workforce, and supportive housing. Metzger said, “The Housing Action Fund will catalyze the development of the housing we need and that people can afford, and is the most direct solution to addressing the housing crisis." Several local governments are discussing steps to help the affordable housing crisis locally, but few have taken concrete steps such as this. County Legislator Abe Uchitelle said the fund “marks the single greatest step our county has taken towards the goal of ensuring every resident has an affordable place to call home.” Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

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Nancy Kern reports for Columbia-Greene Media that in Columbia County COVID-19 numbers are high and rising, and in Greene County they are low and falling. The rolling seven-day average of positive COVID-19 cases in Greene County on Aug. 14 was up 10.2 percent, but in Columbia County the number is up 33.3 percent, according to the New York State COVID-19 Testing Tracker. Columbia County Columbia Memorial Health spokesperson William Van Slyke said, “We’re not seeing a significant increase in COVID cases at this time.” Greene County Department of Public Health Executive Director Laura Churchill said there may be the first signs of an increase there. Churchill said, “The previous two weeks had the same levels reported.... There is no reporting of self-testing results anymore, but the PCR tests done at hospitals and urgent cares reflect 18 cases in the past two weeks, up from two from the previous week.” Matt Blanchette, CVS Pharmacy senior manager of Retail Communications, said, “While we do not break out data by city, state or region, I can tell you we’ve recently seen an uptick in purchases of at-home COVID-19 test kits.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that the latest skirmish between upstate interests and New York City drinking water is in Delaware County. The tension again is with New York City’s land-buying program in the Catskills to protect the water for New York City drinking. Delaware County is asking to lead the review of New York City’s land-buying program, and the Department of Environmental Conservation is objecting to that request. New York City’s environmental protection department does not even believe the program needs a review at all. In all, to buy, New York City wants to buy 137,000 acres — 197 square miles — over the next decade to continue to protect the water supply. Some town leaders in the Catskill have objected to the land-buying program since it began in the 1990s, claiming it inhibits growth and strangles property tax revenues. But none of the stakeholders in the decision — the state Department of Environmental Conservation, state Department of Health, the environmental group Riverkeeper and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection — believe Delaware County should have the lead jurisdiction in the review of the program. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Alexandra Zissu reports in the Times Union that despite what you might have read on the internet, Taylor Swift is not moving to Kinderhook. Kern traces the false rumor to a social media post from Ichabod Crane Middle School co-principal Timothy Farley. The rumor specifically said the pop star was buying the Burgoyne House in Kinderhook. Andrew Gates, associate real estate broker at the Millbrook office of Houlihan Lawrence Inc., and the listing agent on that particular house said, “It is unequivocally not true.” Gates said he had heard the rumor before, "But I don’t consider this a significant rumor.” Farley deleted the post about 24 hours after posting it and did not respond to the newspapers request for a comment. The house, a five-bedroom property from 1765 on 6.38 acres, was listed for $2.695 million. Read the full story in the Times Union.

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Nancy Kern reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Rep. Marc Molinaro is bringing the pork home to Leeds and Athens in Greene County. Each year Congressional representatives are able to add discretionary spending projects to appropriations bills, in what is often perjoratively called pork. The hamlet of Leeds and the village of Athens will get more than $3.5 million for water-related and infrastructure projects is the spending bills are approved by Congress and signed by the president. Greene County Highway and Solid Waste Department Superintendent Scott Templeton said, “This is a big boost for Greene County, Greene County Highway Department and more specifically the Hamlet of Leeds as this Community Project Funding will greatly help improve not only the stormwater collection system but also provide safe parking for pedestrians to access the local businesses including ADA- compliant sidewalks and crosswalks in Leeds." In all, Molinaro requested $27 million in pork projects throughout the 19th Congressional District. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the Town of Hunter is getting $100,000 in grant money for a flood study in Lanesville, a community on the Stony Clove Creek. In Lanesville there is an area where more than 60 buildings intersect the Federal Emergency Management Agency-mapped 100-year flood plain and the 11 buildings that intersect the floodway. A final report in August 2024 should have recommendations to reduce flooding there. Much of the water they want to hold back or divert is destined for New York City faucets, so several different government agencies will have a say in the flood mitigation. Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media

Mid-Hudson News reports that the Dutchess County Legislature voted Aug. 14 to spend over $18 million on bonds to pay for a portion of the cost of a new two-way emergency radio communications system. The county is also paying for the radios with federal money from the American Rescue Plan. Legislature Chairman Gregg Pulver said that the current system, which will have to last another two years, has many faults with a lack of connectivity. Pulver said, “This system is fully connected. The connectivity is awesome between every department, so when you are working a scene and there are multiple agencies there, everybody can be on the same page.” But the radios won't be ready until 2025, so the connectivity issues will continue, Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News.

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Roger Hannigan Gilson reports for Times Union that 31 counties in upstate New York, including all the local counties, want disaster relief from the federal government after last May’s deep freeze damaged crops. Experts say grapes and apples were hit the hardest on May 18, when temperatures plunged below freezing. Senator Chuck Schumer claimed 95 percent of certain crops were totally destroyed from the freeze. At least 30 percent of a crop must be lost for a county to request federal disaster relief, and in Columbia County apples, blueberries, cherries, peaches, plums and strawberries all reached that threshold, according to the New York State Farm Service Agency. Schumer said, "I am urging the USDA to swiftly provide the vineyards, orchards, and farms now facing detrimental damage with a Secretarial Disaster Designation to unlock emergency relief funds.... We can’t leave New York’s beautiful orchards and renowned wine country out in the cold right as harvest season begins.” If the federal government declares a disaster, low-interest USDA emergency loans become available to farmers in each county where a disaster is declared, farmers can borrow up to 100 percent of the cost of production or physical losses due to the freeze, with loans topping off at $500,000 per producer. Read more about this story in Times Union.

Nancy Kern reports for Columbia-Greene Media that while most local politicians agree that there is an affordable housing crisis, few buildings have actually been constructed to address the problem. In Coxsackie, there is a proposal to use funds from the village’s NY Forward grants to convert buildings into 68 mixed- income, artist, and affordable apartments, and renovate another property for affordable, medium-term housing for 25 to 30 writers, and also fix-up another building for mixed-use retail with a little affordable housing on the second floor. But that is only a proposal. In Tannersville, the nonprofit Hunter Foundation says it will use its $10 million NY Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant to build workforce housing. But that is not a government group. And Kern writes, "Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson said he has hopes of converting some properties currently underused or altogether abandoned into housing." Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed building 800,000 new housing units across the state earlier this year, but the legislature declined to pass her proposal. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that New York's Court of Appeals will hear the latest redistricting case in November. Redistricting is mandated by the U.S. Constitution every ten years, so districts properly represent population shifts. So in 2020, New York changed its districts, but there have been fights in court about those changes ever since. The current court case was filed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, after Republicans won several New York Congressional districts in the 2022 elections. That helped Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives by a narrow margin. Now Democrats have until Sept. 18 to file their legal briefs with the Court of Appeals, and Republicans have until Oct. 23 to file a response. Previously in this case the lower court ruled in favor of the Republicans, and then the mid-level court ruled in favor of the Democrats. The case will decide if the current maps are kept until 2030, or if new maps are drawn for New York's Congressional districts. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

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